With three rounds to go in the MotoGP World Championship, the likelihood of a tenth title for Valentino Rossi gets ever closer. What seemed a pipe dream in the early stages of the season, now looks like a Hollywood film in the making.

Things just seem to be going the Italian’s way. The tracks at which he has generally struggled – like Silverstone and Motegi – he has come away smelling of roses thanks to adverse weather conditions (and in no small part his vast experience).

At others there has been outside ‘assistance’, such as Lorenzo crashing at Misano when it seemed his own mistake would prove costly, or Marquez slipping up at Aragon when he was set to lose even more points to his team-mate and rival.

That’s not to say that Rossi would not be a deserving winner, quite the opposite in fact. His victories scrapping hard with the outgoing champ in Argentina and Holland were vintage affairs, and the ante was upped again after another consummate performance in Japan, which began with his pace during qualifying.

The Spanish media had gone into a wild overdrive on Saturday night in Japan on hearing Lorenzo ranting despite having clinched an impressive pole. He was seething about Rossi being able to share his data and following riders around the track (even though the veteran’s best lap came alone). He was in sheer disbelief that his fellow Yamaha man was able to get within a tenth of his best. It felt as if he was battling his own mental demons.

What followed in the race was another moment when the Mallorcan must have been thinking about the mirrors he’d smashed or black cats he’d inadvertently run over. He had the race sewn up if the rain had continued to fall in Motegi, but having pushed hard early on and the surface beginning to dry, he had used his tyres up too quickly and was forced to relent his pace. He eventually succumbed to both Pedrosa and Rossi, and was on the losing side yet again.

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